Ajay Maken, HS Phoolka’s exit fuels buzz about AAP-Congress pact

Both Ajay Maken and HS Phoolka were opposed to their parties joining hands. The party’s national spokesperson and Rajya Sabha MP, Sanjay Singh, said AAP will “wait and watch” the political situation. “As of now, there are no alliances,” he said.

The exit of Ajay Maken from Delhi Congress and HS Phoolka from the Aam Aadmi party (AAP) may pave the way for a rumoured alliance between the two parties for the next year’s general elections, insiders in both the parties say.

HS Phoolka senior advocate of Delhi High (File)

Both Maken and Phoolka were opposed to their parties joining hands.

AAP leaders, on condition of anonymity, said informal talks between the two parties for an alliance were on until mid December. “There were talks. But the Congress walked out after the controversy over a Delhi assembly resolution, mentioning former PM Rajiv Gandhi,” a senior AAP leader said.

The party’s national spokesperson and Rajya Sabha MP, Sanjay Singh, said AAP will “wait and watch” the political situation. “As of now, there are no alliances,” he said.

On December 30, after AAP’s national council meeting, party’s Delhi unit convener Gopal Rai said the party “will cooperate with others (parties) to remove the autocratic rule of the (Narendra) Modi government”. AAP plans to contest all Lok Sabha seats in Punjab, Haryana, Delhi, Goa and Chandigarh.

AAP was caught in a controversy last month after some of its legislators sought a resolution to be passed in the Delhi assembly, demanding withdrawal of the Bharat Ratna awarded to Gandhi. The Delhi Congress, led by Ajay Maken, had criticised the move and staged a protest outside AAP’s office on Deen Dayal Upadhyay Marg. The Congress had sought an apology from AAP convener Arvind Kejriwal.

Maken, according to Congress leaders, had been vocal with his view that the party should not engage in any seat-sharing arrangement with the AAP. Even when senior party leader and three-time Delhi chief minister Sheila Dikshit quipped “the party high-command so decided”, in response to a question on a pre-poll alliance between Congress and AAP, Maken expressed his opposition to the idea.

Party leaders said in a meeting of the Delhi Pradesh Congress Committee (DPCC), headed by Maken in November last year, a resolution was also passed to oppose the alliance in Delhi.

However, top leaders in the Congress were of the view that the Congress, with AAP, could win 25 of the 30 seats in three states (Punjab, Delhi and Haryana), party functionaries said.

“It started from Rahul Gandhi and Kejriwal sharing the dais and shaking hands for the first time in a farmers’ protest at Jantar Mantar. Then on December 10, Kejriwal attended a meeting of 17 opposition parties,” said an AAP leader.

There were talks (of a an alliance between the two parties). But the Congress walked out after the controversy over a Delhi assembly resolution, mentioning former PM Rajiv Gandhi.